Market Research in Cambodia
Why Cambodia matters right now
Cambodia has entered one of its most dynamic economic phases in the last decade. Urbanisation, a young population, the acceleration of digital payments, and the rise of modern retail formats have combined to reshape how consumers evaluate value. From Phnom Penh’s rapidly evolving mall culture to small-town convenience stores that still rely on direct relationships with store owners, behaviour in Cambodia is in transition: not from offline to online, but into a hybrid system where trust, convenience, and social influence coexist. For researchers, this is fertile ground: because the country’s cultural nuance is not loud, but quietly powerful.
Demographics + Population Composition
Cambodia’s population is approximately 17 million, with nearly 24–26% living in urban centres like Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville. Yet, rural Cambodia remains central to the country’s identity: agriculture is still a major economic contributor, and intergenerational households are common. This matters for segmentation: because “urban consumer mindset” is not automatically equal to “modern consumer mindset.”
Young adults (roughly 15–34) represent a significant consumption force, especially in fashion, beauty, quick-service restaurants, and mobile-first services. Household-level financial decisions are still strongly influenced by parents, meaning brand persuasion often has to be built around the “family trust factor,” not only individual preference. Chinese expansion, Korean cultural influence (K-beauty, K-food, K-pop), Vietnamese border trade patterns, and local Khmer cultural pride all intermix: creating consumption patterns that are not linear, but layered.
Cultural Nuance + Attitudes + How Consumers Behave
Cambodian consumers are highly relationship-led. Word-of-mouth still holds more power than formal reviews. People want to “see someone they know” adopt a product before committing. The role of social endorsement matters deeply.
Platform-wise, Facebook is still a commercial engine in Cambodia: not just for social status updates, but as a catalogue and negotiation marketplace. Instagram matters for aspiration, but Facebook Marketplace, TikTok Shop, and Zalo-like local digital commerce substitutes are behaviourally more active.
Product trial in Cambodia often starts offline because physical tactility builds confidence. But final purchase may still close via digital. Beauty and skincare categories especially rely on small resellers and micro-influencers who go live to demonstrate authenticity. This is not purely “e-commerce”: it’s commerce through trust-commerce.
Language also matters. Khmer is dominant, but English is growing as an economic mobility indicator: not necessarily at a conversational level, but at a brand keyword recognition level. This impacts product naming, messaging tone, and lexicon selection. Campaigns in Cambodia that feel “too foreign” without cultural grounding tend to be ignored: not rejected: simply ignored
Digital Penetration + Online Behaviour
Cambodia’s internet penetration is now above ~80%. Smartphone penetration continues to rise rapidly, especially through mid-range Android brands. Price sensitivity plays a big role: features like battery life, camera quality, and durability rank higher than brand snobbery for the mainstream population.
Digital payments adoption is climbing: Wing, ABA Bank, and other app-based financial services are normalising QR P2P and P2M. But cash remains an emotional comfort. People like having control they can “touch.”So research around fintech needs to understand that “digitally active” does not mean “digitally surrendered.” The journey is hybrid.
TikTok has made visibility cheaper. Small brands can sell aggressively without traditional media. Live selling is not a trend: it’s practically a structural retail channel for many categories, especially fashion, skincare, and electronics accessories.
Research Implications: Qual & Quant
Cambodia is a classic “hybrid methodology market.”
Quantitative surveys online are possible in urban clusters: but researcher discipline is required to prevent over-representation of Phnom Penh youth. Face-to-face quant is still necessary in lower internet-reliable provinces and rural zones.
Qualitative methods that work well include:
- In-depth interviews (Khmer + English bilingual pairing)
- Mini-groups in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville
- Ethnography in urban markets + neighbourhood stores
- Shop-alongs (especially beauty, electronics, F&B)
- Online communities and MROCs for youth journeys
- TikTok content review as “implicit behaviour decoding”
For technology topics (fintech, BNPL, crypto wallets, digital banking), researchers need to understand trust is not a rational construct: it is social and reputational.
Challenges: What researchers must consider
- Language nuance: Khmer translation must avoid literalness: context matters.
- Moderators need cultural sensitivity: Cambodian consumers are not confrontational, they express disagreement politely.
- Rural sampling cannot be ignored: segmenting only on “digital youth” produces misleading conclusions.
- Fraud control is required for online surveys: Facebook recruitment is common, but bad actors exist.
- Respondents often understate aspirational spending publicly: private tasks in MROC communities reveal more honest intent.
Cultural Traits Value Proposition
At Cultural Traits, our strength in Cambodia comes from cultural decoding, on-ground access, and careful moderation. We recruit multilingual moderators who understand Khmer communication patterns: including indirectness, face-saving, and tacit agreement. We do not assume urban equals modern. We validate respondents through triple-checking, cross-platform verification, and behavioural screening.
Our field network covers both urban and peri-urban zones: including smaller clusters where digital adoption is rising but not always indexed. We design qual tasks that respect Cambodian emotional expression: not forcing verbal articulation when visual diaries or video submissions reveal richer behavioural evidence.
We combine offline and online methodologies: using F2F interviews where nuance needs bodily presence, and MROCs when we need longitudinal behavioural capture.
Conclusion: Partnership, not just fieldwork
Cambodia is evolving: not by abandoning tradition, but by modernising around it. Researchers who treat Cambodia like “just another SEA sample” miss the invisible cultural codes that shape loyalty, trust, and product acceptance. Working here requires humility, cultural fluency, and operational precision.
If you are entering Cambodia: or looking to decode consumer value at a deeper layer: partner with teams who understand that cultural nuance is not “additional insight” but the foundation of it.
